AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D Review – The Best That Just Got Better
Introduction
AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D is the company’s new gaming processor. November 2024 saw the launch of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which turned out to be the fastest gaming PC processor in the world. With the 9850X3D they’re making small, incremental improvements to the 9800X3D—similar to what Intel does with their “KS” offerings. AMD announced the 9850X3D a few weeks ago, at CES 2026, it’s an 8-core/16-thread processor with 3D V-Cache, an innovation AMD has seen ship processors with stacked storage-level cache. The processor comes with 64 MB of L3 cache which adds on-die 32 MB. What sets the 9850X3D apart from the 9800X3D is a significant increase in overclocking frequency, as well as an update to the Precision Boost behavior that should improve accommodation in all areas of the workload spread. Officially, the base clock is the same for both models, at 4.7 GHz, but the maximum boost has increased from 5.2 GHz to 5.6 GHz (+7.7%).
This 400 MHz increase in boost headroom also increases the frequency of occupancy in the all-important figure, so workloads benefit from higher frequencies. The specified TDP remains unchanged, staying at 120 W. Each of the eight Zen 5 CPU cores comes with 1 MB of dedicated L2 cache which doubles the L2 cache bandwidth of the Zen 4 cores, the eight cores share a total of 96 MB of L3 cache. The Zen 5 CCD is built on a 4 nm TSMC N4P Foundry node. The 6 nm I/O die client packs a dual-channel DDR5 memory controller, and PCI-Express Gen 5 with 28 complex lanes. Same with the 9800X3D.
3D V-Cache, introduced in 2022 with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, sees AMD’s 8-core chiplets come with 96 MB of extended caches found to significantly improve performance with gaming loads. This large cache also helps in providing real-time performance. With the Ryzen 9000 generation powered by the Zen 5 microarchitecture, AMD introduced the second generation of 3D V-Cache, which flips the way the Zen 5 CPU core die (CCD) and 3D V-Cache die (L3D) are stacked. In older 3D V-Cache chips, such as the 5800X3D and 7800X3D, the L3D is stacked on top of the CCD, in its center with a 32 MB L3 on-die cache, and the structural silicon is stacked on top of the CCD edges with hot CPU cores. This method imposed thermal limits on the CCD, and AMD closed its old X3D chips carefully, with limited overclocking capabilities. The new 2nd Generation L3D is equipped with pass-silicon vias (TSVs), which enable AMD to pack the CCD on top of the L3D rather than under it, so that the CCD can transfer heat directly to the heat-spreader (IHS) over the solder-TIM. This approach allows the 9000X3D processors to have higher clock speeds and more power than conventional, non-X3D models.
The AMD Zen 5 microarchitecture features a complete reworking of almost all key components compared to Zen 4, with a special focus on the ability to compute numbers. Core comes with a true 512-bit floating-point data path to efficiently run 512-bit SIMD workloads using instruction sets such as AVX-512, VNNI, etc.; compared to Zen 4, which uses a double-pumped 256-bit data path to implement these rulesets.
AMD is pricing the Ryzen 7 9850X3D at $500, which is a $20 increase over the launch price of the 9800X3D, which now sells for around $470. Given how popular these chips are among the PC gaming and enthusiast crowd, we don’t expect the 9800X3D to drop in price much. The good news is that the older generation 7800X3D is still going for $400. The new 9850X3D should be generally available from January 29, 2026.
| Price | cores / Threads |
The foundation A clock |
Size. Improve |
L3 A repository |
TDP | Buildings | The process | A socket | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Core i5 | |||||||||
| Core i5-12400F | $110 | 6/12 | 2.5 GHz | 4.4 GHz | 18 MB | 65 w | Alder Lake | 10 nm | LGA 1700 |
| Core i5-13400F | $170 | 6+4/16 | 2.5/1.8 GHz | 4.6/3.3 GHz | 20 MB | 65 w | Raptor Lake | 10 nm | LGA 1700 |
| Core i5-12600K | $170 | 6+4/16 | 3.7/2.8 GHz | 4.9/3.6 GHz | 20 MB | 125W | Alder Lake | 10 nm | LGA 1700 |
| Core i5-13600K | $225 | 6+8/20 | 3.5/2.6 GHz | 5.1/3.9 GHz | 24 MB | 125W | Raptor Lake | 10 nm | LGA 1700 |
| Core i5-14600K | $260 | 6+8/20 | 3.5/2.6 GHz | 5.3/4.0 GHz | 24 MB | 125W | Raptor Lake | 10 nm | LGA 1700 |
| Intel Core Ultra 5 | |||||||||
| Core Ultra 5 245K | $310 | 6+8/14 | 4.2/3.6 GHz | 5.2/4.6 GHz | 24 MB | 159 W | Arrow Lake | 3 nm | LGA 1851 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 | |||||||||
| Ryzen 5 8500G | $150 | 6/12 | 3.5 GHz | 5.0 GHz | 16 MB | 65 w | Phoenix 2 | 4 nm | AM5 |
| Ryzen 5 5600X | $135 | 6/12 | 3.7 GHz | 4.6 GHz | 32 MB | 65 w | Zen 3 | 7 nm | AM4 |
| Ryzen 5 7600 | $185 | 6/12 | 3.8 GHz | 5.1 GHz | 32 MB | 65 w | Zen 4 | 5 nm | AM5 |
| Ryzen 5 7600X | $210 | 6/12 | 4.7 GHz | 5.3 GHz | 32 MB | 105 W | Zen 4 | 5 nm | AM5 |
| Ryzen 5 9600X | $185 | 6/12 | 3.9 GHz | 5.4 GHz | 32 MB | 65 w | Zen 5 | 4 nm | AM5 |
| Intel Core i7 | |||||||||
| Core i7-12700K | $210 | 8+4/20 | 3.6/2.7 GHz | 5.0/3.8 GHz | 25 MB | 125W | Alder Lake | 10 nm | LGA 1700 |
| Core i7-13700K | $280 | 8+8/24 | 3.4/2.5 GHz | 5.4/4.2 GHz | 30 MB | 125W | Raptor Lake | 10 nm | LGA 1700 |
| Core i7-14700K | $355 | 8+12/28 | 3.4/2.5 GHz | 5.6/4.3 GHz | 33 MB | 125W | Raptor Lake | 10 nm | LGA 1700 |
| Intel Core Ultra 7 | |||||||||
| Core Ultra 7 265K | $290 | 8+12/20 | 3.9/3.3 GHz | 5.5/4.6 GHz | 30 MB | 250 W | Arrow Lake | 3 nm | LGA 1851 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 | |||||||||
| Ryzen 7 5700G | $165 | 8/16 | 3.8 GHz | 4.6 GHz | 16 MB | 65 w | Zen 3 + Vega | 7 nm | AM4 |
| Ryzen 7 5700X | $160 | 8/16 | 3.4 GHz | 4.6 GHz | 32 MB | 65 w | Zen 3 | 7 nm | AM4 |
| Ryzen 7 7700 | $280 | 8/16 | 3.8 GHz | 5.3 GHz | 32 MB | 65 w | Zen 4 | 5 nm | AM5 |
| Ryzen 7 7700X | $275 | 8/16 | 4.5 GHz | 5.4 GHz | 32 MB | 105 W | Zen 4 | 5 nm | AM5 |
| Ryzen 7 9700X | $305 | 8/16 | 3.8 GHz | 5.5 GHz | 32 MB | 65 w | Zen 5 | 4 nm | AM5 |
| Ryzen 7 5800X | $165 | 8/16 | 3.8 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 32 MB | 105 W | Zen 3 | 7 nm | AM4 |
| Ryzen 7 5800X3D | $340 | 8/16 | 3.4 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 96MB | 105 W | Zen 3 | 7 nm | AM4 |
| Ryzen 7 7800X3D | $375 | 8/16 | 4.2 GHz | 5.0 GHz | 96MB | 120 W | Zen 4 | 5 nm | AM5 |
| Ryzen 7 9800X3D | $450 | 8/16 | 4.7 GHz | 5.2 GHz | 96MB | 120 W | Zen 5 | 4 nm | AM5 |
| Ryzen 7 9850X3D | $500 | 8/16 | 4.7 GHz | 5.6 GHz | 96MB | 120 W | Zen 5 | 4 nm | AM5 |
| Intel Core i9 | |||||||||
| Core i9-12900K | $280 | 8+8/24 | 3.2/2.4 GHz | 5.2/3.9 GHz | 30 MB | 125W | Alder Lake | 10 nm | LGA 1700 |
| Core i9-13900K | $415 | 8+16/32 | 3.0/2.2 GHz | 5.8/4.3 GHz | 36 MB | 125W | Raptor Lake | 10 nm | LGA 1700 |
| Core i9-14900K | $460 | 8+16/32 | 3.2/2.4 GHz | 6.0/4.4 GHz | 36 MB | 125W | Raptor Lake | 10 nm | LGA 1700 |
| Intel Core Ultra 9 | |||||||||
| Core Ultra 9 285K | $570 | 8+16/24 | 3.7/3.2 GHz | 5.7/4.6 GHz | 36 MB | 250 W | Arrow Lake | 3 nm | LGA 1851 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 | |||||||||
| Ryzen 9 5900X | $265 | 12/24 | 3.7 GHz | 4.8 GHz | 64 MB | 105 W | Zen 3 | 7 nm | AM4 |
| Ryzen 9 7900 | $370 | 12/24 | 3.7 GHz | 5.4 GHz | 64 MB | 65 w | Zen 4 | 5 nm | AM5 |
| Ryzen 9 7900X | $400 | 12/24 | 4.7 GHz | 5.6 GHz | 64 MB | 170 W | Zen 4 | 5 nm | AM5 |
| Ryzen 9 7900X3D | $580 | 12/24 | 4.4 GHz | 5.6 GHz | 128 MB | 120 W | Zen 4 | 5 nm | AM5 |
| Ryzen 9 9900X | $430 | 12/24 | 4.4 GHz | 5.6 GHz | 64 MB | 120 W | Zen 5 | 4 nm | AM5 |
| Ryzen 9 5950X | $345 | 16/32 | 3.4 GHz | 4.9 GHz | 64 MB | 105 W | Zen 3 | 7 nm | AM4 |
| Ryzen 9 7950X | $660 | 16/32 | 4.5 GHz | 5.7 GHz | 64 MB | 170 W | Zen 4 | 5 nm | AM5 |
| Ryzen 9 7950X3D | $550 | 16/32 | 4.2 GHz | 5.7 GHz | 128 MB | 120 W | Zen 4 | 5 nm | AM5 |
| Ryzen 9 9950X | $490 | 16/32 | 4.3 GHz | 5.7 GHz | 64 MB | 170 W | Zen 5 | 4 nm | AM5 |
| Ryzen 9 9950X3D | $645 | 16/32 | 4.3 GHz | 5.7 GHz | 128 MB | 170 W | Zen 5 | 4 nm | AM5 |
